Invincible Summer

One Day meets A Visit from the Goon Squad in this debut novel that follows four friends from their college graduation through the dramatic subsequent two decades of their lives.

Four friends. Two decades. Inseparable throughout college, Eva, Benedict, Sylvie and Lucien graduate in 1997 into a world on the brink of a new millennium. Eva, keen to shake off the socialist politics of her upbringing, breaks away to work for an investment bank while Benedict stays behind to complete his PhD in Physics and pine for Eva. Sylvie and Lucien, never much inclined towards mortgages and monogamy, pursue a far more bohemian existence.

But as their twenties give way to their thirties, the friends find themselves struggling to navigate a world of credit crunches and terrorism, broken hearts and thwarted dreams.

Invincible Summer follows the group through twenty years of triumphs and disasters, from furtive sex and lost jobs to divorce and single-parenthood. It’s a story about growing up and finding out that life doesn’t always turn out as expected, and about the way that friendship, love and laughter can give you the strength to make it through.Invincible Summer is breathtaking in scope-a dazzling depiction of the highs and lows of adulthood and the greater forces that shape us.

Reviews

“Invincible Summer is the story of what happens when things get real.” – Tom Perrotta, author of The Leftovers

“A sophisticated yet fun novel about four friends venturing into adulthood. Alice Adams does a magnificent job of describing the way life’s heartbreaks and ecstasies unfold over the course of 20 years.” – Elin Hilderbrand, author of The Rumor“Invincible Summer is a novel that will have you running for the phone to call your old friends and reconnect. Alice Adams is a beautiful storyteller.” – Adriana Trigiani, author of All the Stars in the Heavens“Invincible Summer goes down as smoothly as the steady flow of wine knocked back by its disarming characters… Be forewarned, though: It packs a punch.” – Anne Korkeakivi, author of An Unexpected Guest